The Lionhearted
by Nixxxx
Summary: A girl longing to live up to the near-impossible legacies of the Senjus before her... But first she must learn the hard lessons of friendships, family, and how to love in many different ways. But most importantly, she must learn what it means to endure. Naruto AU. HarashimaSenju!Granddaughter. Parents!Era.
1. Chapter 1: Lady Grandmother

"I am certain she doesn't have it, I knew it was a long shot," a man said sternly to his fellow clansman.

Suki wheezed as she battled it out with her instructor, an older branch member. Her tiny little hands far inexperienced, trying to attack the older woman who swiftly dodged all of the younger girl's attacks. One push on her chest and the princess was down with a faint cry. Suki stumbled to get up, her eyes hardy and determined.

"Lord Itsuki had a very special gift like Lord First," the other man replied, crossing his arms as he looked at the training beyond. "You can't expect it to appear just like that…"

The little girl's hands tried to block the instructor's darting hands miserably, gasping every time it came in contact with her skin. Then her brows furrowed as she moved forward, keeping up her defense as she dodged and blocked the attacks.

A female servant quickly went up to the two men, bowing deeply, "Princess Tsunade is here to visit Lady Mito," the servant said to the two men.

The larger of the two nodded once, "Halt. Princess, you're done for the day," he turned to the servant, "Get the Princess patched up and clean," he told her, to which she nodded and turned to go tend to the princess.

Suki put down her hands to her sides for a moment, panting before putting out two fingers forward to her instructor who had repeated the gesture, their fingers linking firmly before letting go. The little girl bowed deeply, "Thank— Thank you Sen– Sensei," Suki then straightened her back and ran towards the servant who had a towel ready for her.

"Princess, you mustn't run, there are visitors today!" The maid called out exasperatedly to the bouncy little girl.

"O–ooh, okay," she grinned, trying her best to tiptoe down the decks carefully. "Hey, who's here anyways?" Suki asked curiously, turning her head back towards the servant.

"Your cousin, Princess Tsunade," she replied.

"Huh? I don't know her. Shouldn't she be living here with us? I didn't know I have princess cousins," Suki mused, looking up in thought. She only knew of Nawaki, who she didn't even know that well apart from the fact that he was, well… dead. Hushed whispers and frequent prayers to his name were enough to deduce that.

The maid ushered her to continue moving, simply replying, "She's been extremely busy fighting in the war courageously," she told the little princess.

"What's the war about?" The blonde little princess asked.

The maid sighed again, tired of her questions. It was endless seeing as she tended to the child everyday, and her questions only got tougher and tougher to answer. These days she wasn't sure herself what the war was about either.

"Maybe your cousin can answer for you when you see her," the maid tiredly murmured to the girl as she led her to the bathhouse.

* * *

Lady Grandmother was very scary, Suki very rarely saw her around despite living in the same estate, and when she did, she was strictly taught to greet her with respect, never to look at her in the eye, and to always speak softly to her. She's heard rumors of her temperament, and to a degree that she didn't know, she's been affected by it as well, being able to sense a dark and afflicting chakra at random points in time for an equally random duration of time… it was a very scary sensation she's yet to bring up to anyone.

Though she was really the closest family Suki had in terms of blood, Lady Grandmother seemed more of a living myth to her than anything. And for matters of seeing her, the lady needed her rest as she was getting into her old age, but also just because Suki wasn't quite important in clan matters besides being her only direct blood relative still living in the estate. She only ever saw the old woman during very important celebrations, or if by chance, she happened to cross paths with her when they were both getting to where they need to be.

The door was slid open slowly for Suki, and she looked at the intimidating members for dinner. Lady Grandmother sat at the very head of the table, a very beautiful blonde woman with honeyed eyes sat on her right, and a male elder clan member next to her. An empty cushion was on lady grandmother's left— which was for her, and the last seat was occupied with a female elder.

Suki was nudged by her maid to continue forward and to stop staring, and the alarmed girl quickly bowed, introducing herself and apologizing, "G– Good Eve'n, I apologize for being late," she said in a small voice before rushing slightly to her place, her small feet making little pitter-pattering sounds on the mat clumsily. All eyes were on her, in annoyance by the elders, but curiosity by her cousin and her grandmother.

"Princess Suki, this is Princess Tsunade, your cousin…" the elder's voice blurred quickly as her curious eyes met Princess Tsunade's rather unforgiving gaze briefly. There was an expression her cousin held in her eyes that made her feel uneasy, and it wasn't like she was looking at Suki in a relatively nice way either. Her gaze made her want to sweat again, and for a while it lingered. When she felt her gaze lifting away, Suki visibly relaxed before she was nudged again by the elder. Her body straightened stiffly again.

"Hey, I asked you a question, and you should really answer to your elders," the older princess waved her hand in front of a now alarmed Suki.

"Y-yes?" she stuttered, her eyebrows raising.

"Do you go to the academy? Are you even a shinobi?" Princess Tsunade tilted her head, her tone was not too impressed by Suki.

The little girl purses her lips, snaking her head slightly, "No, I do not go to the academy Princess, b-but I'm being training here a-at the estate as a shinobi," Suki politely replied with more than a hint of nervousness with her stuttering.

The woman narrowed her eyes at Suki, "Tsunade is fine, or I suppose older sister would be more appropriate," Princess Tsunade then put her thumb and index finger on her chin as if to think about something deeply. She turned to their grandmother, "It's strange she hasn't been put into the Academy the Second Hokage himself founded. If we don't even send our children into our own clan's establishment, how can we expect the others in the village to do the same?" the blonde said inquisitively, though it was meant to press on every hypocrisy the elders' decision. It was pretty much successful based on the stiff reactions of the two members who sat next to the princesses.

"Besides, how much socializing has she had with those her own age? Poor girl couldn't say much of anything without stuttering," Princess Tsunade continued on condescendingly. Her comment made Suki feel even more uneasy, mostly because they were directed to the elders so… disrespectfully but it was still commenting on the failure of her carefully-crafted social skills, taught by the very same elders with them. Worst of all, Princess Tsunade wasn't wrong either.

The beautiful blonde whipped her head to her grandmother, "Grandmother, how could you let this happen?" the Princess furrowed her brows, her expression darkening at her grandmother's lack of reaction. It seemed she was focused on something else, not particularly caring for the everyone else's gasps at her granddaughter's response of shifting the blame on her.

The matriarch tilted her head slightly to one side, finally taking a look at her younger granddaughter with an inquisitive expression, thinking about her response. Maybe back in the day she would scold Tsunade for being disrespectful, but she has long since worn on her and so did her most of her immediate temper.

The younger girl immediately felt more uneasy with eyes on her. Lady Grandmother really paid much attention to her before, and it was slightly weird now that she did, only because her cousin for some reason wanted to meddle in her academic affairs.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," Mito replied after a brief period of time. It was then that Princess Tsunade realized something that made her more infuriated.

" _You_ suppose? How expandable is she to you? To _all_ of you? Another mouth to feed, a little girl to raise and marry off? Is that it? Disappointed she isn't an heir for the clan to give her name off? How hopeless have you been since Itsuki died?!" Tsunade raged, her fist banged on the table, amazingly destroying it.

" _Since Nawaki,"_ rang powerfully inside Tsunade's own thoughts, but voicing it out… she would have to admit to that reality that she's since then been actively avoiding.

Suki and the elders flinched at her cousin's violent reaction, but when she turned her head to look at her grandmother, she saw no visible signs of a reaction on her face. It was amazing how well composed she was, Suki could hardly believe it.

She then heard cries of the other two, calling for the other princess' name, and Suki turned her head and saw the retreating figure of the blonde, leaving a trail of fury behind her.

Only until then did the house servants bring food, entering in and alarmed by what had happened to the table they were supposed to serve the food on. Mito Uzumaki gently stood up, informing the servants that she will have her dinner at her quarters, to which the elders took as an opportunity to dismiss themselves as well, telling the remaining princess to head back to her own quarters to complete her nightly studies.

* * *

After an hour of unsupervised study and dinner did Suki finally stop, she was too bored out of her mind given the events before dinner, so she slid out of her room and snuck out into the large gardens of the Senju estate.

There were two parts of the famed garden, the bigger part being perfectly decorated and maintained, stone steps were padded to guide people around, benches, and small bamboo fountains that were powered by the pond in the middle. The other was a more secluded and natural part, it also was covered with trees for shade, and had a more natural charm with it. All in all, both had the air of tranquility surrounding it and was very pleasant to walk around in.

Of course, being native to its charm, Suki had learned to appreciate the wilder part of the gardens. It was more natural and earthy, and she had past grown to appreciate looking at the flowers in their less trimmed way.

There was only a single bench in the wild part of the garden, an uncomfortable thing that was weathered and old, it looked like it had been poorly made in even in its original glory, but had surprisingly survived for as long as it did. It wasn't a very fun seat, but it was the only seat in that part of the garden. If one has sat in it enough, maybe they would have been able to dismiss how uncomfortable it was, with it's awkward bumps and warps in the wood that was used.

The nightly breeze was amazing and star-gazing was nonetheless perfect from the uncomfortable bench Suki sat on. Tilting her chin up, her eyes marveled upon the many stars that filled the night sky, filling her with awe. Upon many assigned readings her tutor gave her, among those were some astronomical sciences that said that the stars were the same as the sun, though in her childish mind, that idea didn't appeal to her. Suki prefered to believe that the sun was the benevolent diety Amaterasu, and the stars were Amatsumikaboshi, an evil (though a rather beautiful) god.

Her legs swung back and forth to distract herself of the lowering temperatures, still making connections with the stars and taking as much of the sight as she could with her large ruby eyes.

A small disturbance came in the form of a shifting weight and a creak in the wood of the bench. Flinching, Suki whipped her head to the direction of the disturbance, immediately seeing a cape of muted red hair, and wrinkled skin. Suki immediately jumped to her feet, bowing deeply.

"Lady Grandmother."


	2. Chapter 2: Love

a/n: here's chapter two, i hope you guys somewhat like this story. a review would be nice, but you guys reading the story is good enough for me. :)

* * *

Her greeting was only met with silence before her grandmother patted the seat next to her where Suki had just got up from. "Come, watch with me," Mito whispered with a small curl of her lips, her voice somewhat withered with her age.

Suki's cheeks flushed, a combination of both the chilling breeze and for the grand offer that was given to her. She bowed again, stuttering her gratitude before stiffly sitting down in her former spot, soon relaxing slightly once she tilted her chin up to gaze at the stars again. Lady Grandmother had never given her an opportunity to be close to her like that, and Suki only knew to treat and react with such formalities that she was taught to that she hardly looked up to the lady as someone who can fill her with a somewhat maternal relationship. Her relationship with the older woman was much, much more… distant.

It wasn't like Suki really expected to do anything more than watch the stars and be caught up in her thoughts (which for Suki was just about her anxieties sitting next to the clan head). She stayed still in her seat, until after a while her small body gave up and she slouched with a small pained groan. With the starting cold temperatures, forcing herself to sit still and straight, and sitting on a poorly-made bench, it was too much for her to keep up. Expecting to hear a noise of disapproval as she was led to believe would most likely happen, and the fact that the elders never really made anything but their disapproval known, Suki was surprised to hear a small chuckle coming from Lady Grandmother herself.

"Oh I told him so… I told him so," Lady Grandmother muttered to herself. The little girl raised her brows and tried her best to sit up again, a little alarmed about her grandmother's reaction.

"If- If I may be bold to a… ask, wh-who did you tell?" Suki mumbled, her head lowering in a gesture of submissiveness as to not disrespect her elder.

She was met with a bright response, from her grandmother, still chuckling. "Oh your grandfather, my husband Hashirama," was a brief response before she covered the bottom of her face with her sleeve and continued on with her laughter. Soon, she was able to control her laughter, composing herself by clearing her throat and smiling down at her granddaughter. "Before he was making all those marvelous wooden statues in the front of the garden with his own hands, he was hopeless from the beginning," Mito recounted with a reminiscent look on her face.

"He wasn't always so good at everything he did… When we settled here in Konoha, we built this estate easily with his Wood Release," the redhead started the story, allowing the little girl to unwind some more unlike before with her stiffness. "But he was a stubborn man when it came to some things, like wanting to build something with his own hands instead of relying on his jutsu." Mito knew very well how relying on special skills sometimes bothered her husband, who preferred doing this based on hard work, especially when it came to sentimental things.

"When this part of the garden first came to be, he was only yet starting on his woodworking hobby. I remember walking through this very same garden with him, when many of these bushes were still little buds. A long time ago, I had told him… perhaps in the spring, yes… I had told him that this very spot would be nice to build something to sit on, to feel a breeze and watch the trees blow and just rest a bit," the story brought her back to that memory from many, many years ago, and Mito closed her eyes, trying to relive that moment in time. Even from the longest time, she could still recall her husband's face, and it filled her with warmth.

* * *

"I would like to sit here with my husband once in a while to enjoy our new garden, but I can't do that without something we could sit on," Mito huffed at her husband, giving him a slight attitude knowing it would get her what she wanted. Her husband was a fool for her, obviously, but she couldn't just spoil him with her affections all the time, much less in public. He was far too much of a fool to be able to handle himself once she showed him a tiny bit of affection.

Unbeknownst to her, she would get what she wanted, but not in the way she expected it to happen, which will be quite an annoyance later. The redhead looked at her husband, expecting him to quickly conjure up a wooden bench. "Well?" she asked, becoming irked when she saw that one look on his face that gave away his devious intent.

"Well? I'll build one!" Hashirama happily told her, "Even better, I'll build one with my own hands," his enthusiastic expression did not penetrate Mito's rather icy attitude.

"Then build one right now, don't keep me waiting!" Mito snapped at him, which caused her husband to quickly pout at her.

"You know you'll have to wait just a little bit, right? I'd need to get the materials, the tools…" his depressing aura only made the fiery redhead even more hostile upon realizing what Hashirama meant when he said he would build a bench with his own hands.

"Hashirama, this woodworking nonsense in your head, I am _not_ in the state to be tested for it right now. You barely started carving!" Mito exclaimed, her hair making her look that much more intense.

"But my love- don't you want me to build something with my bare hands something our descendants could enjoy from years to come? Nothing would fill my heart with more pride next to this-" he was cut off quickly by his wife who had one answer for him.

"No," was Mito's very firm answer.

"But-"

"Maybe in the future when you're much better at your ridiculous hobbies, Hashirama. You and I both know you'll make something that'll just end up hurting someone," she huffed, stomping away, too impatient to deal with her rather childish husband at the moment. So she left him there pouting before he followed her to quickly apologize, hoping she wouldn't be so cold with him later at night.

But the legendary Wood Release user had slaved away, on that very same spot he spent his free time trying to learn through trial and error to build something his descendants could sit on for many years to come. Through sweat and tears, with his calloused hands he worked hard despite his inexperience, hoping that the bench would at least be decent. He could have done it the easy way with a jutsu, but there was something about making it without the help of chakra that made it much more sentimental. The more he worked on it, the more he especially wanted his wife to enjoy it, and his children, and their children, and so on.

Spring had passed, so did summer, but autumn had just come, and his efforts produced something...usable and somewhat durable, but for him it was special. Hashirama knew it wasn't the best bench out there, but that was now knowing that benches weren't quite easy to make. Nevertheless, he was now quite proud of his first wood work that was outside carving (which he was getting slightly better at).

He had his beautiful wife test it, though she wasn't too enthusiastic about the looks of his work. Sitting down, her face made a steely expression before uttering the word, "uncomfortable".

It quickly sent Hashirama into a depressed mood, apologizing to his wife as he sat down on the ground with his knees on his chest, rocking himself, and as Mito had called it, 'growing mushrooms on his head'.

His lady perhaps felt a little bad for him, slowly coming to terms about the sentimental effect that the bench meant to him. "But perhaps…" she sighed, looking down at her husband.

Hashirama quickly perked up, though not yet fully out of his mood swing, "Hm?"

"Perhaps it's something I will _have_ to use when I would like to sit here with my husband once in a while to enjoy a breeze and watch the leaves blow… and rest a bit," Mito quietly mused without looking at him, not wanting to completely dash his mood with how the bench really turned out. A small flush formed in her cheeks and a small pout came into her features, cursing herself inwardly for turning soft for her husband in that moment.

Of course, her husband had dawned like the sun, quickly crawling over to her and taking her hand while he was still on his knees. A hopeful look at her as he accepted what little hint of acceptance his wife had just given his work. His expression was quick to brighten up like the sun, his radiance making her forget just how uncomfortable she was.

Mito's flush deepened when her husband lifted her hand to his lips, his eyes looking deeply in hers as if to thank her for the small encouragement she had given him. She looked away when the moment embarrassed her enough, pulling away her hand and lifting it up to her chest, ending the moment.

But instead of another mood swing, Hashirama had gotten up and sat next to her, reaching to hold her hand again with the biggest smile on his face at Mito's father adorable reaction.

To take control of the situation, Mito looked back at him again. In her own stubborn way, she tried to put him in his place again. "T-this doesn't mean I like it. But I did only ask for a place to sit on, I didn't specify if I wanted it to be comfortable. You'll have a lot of work ahead of you if you want to make something better than this," she said, trying to be cold again, though it backfired. Her husband only seemed to get more encouraged by her words.

"This'll be something our grandchild or something will probably find unbearable to sit properly on…" Mito sighed to her husband. Even though if that were the case, the bench probably wouldn't last long, and he'd be forced to make another one, hopefully a better one for them to sit on.

* * *

Though Mito was right, she was also wrong at the same time. The bench weathered all the troubles, from earthquakes to cyclones. It made her feel so ashamed that she had ever doubted Hashirama, but now she could see clearly why he wanted to build the bench with his own hands.

It was the proof of his love for her.

And while he did want to make something that endured for generations and generations that would fill him up with pride, he only made the bench because she had asked him to. And that he put his faith in that bench just like he put his faith in his love for her because she had allowed him to. And for the longest time after, his love for her stood.

He was so good to her, even when it had started as an arranged marriage, she had never put it into much thought that she would find true love within it. Thinking about it now, she had been quite cold to him when he didn't deserve it. But she was happy to admit that she had grown to love him as well.

Now, a generation later, she would still find millions of reasons to love her husband, and in her old age, Mito was coming to realize she would find it in the girl next to her.


	3. Chapter 3: Permission

a/n: it's a pretty long one. i would like to know what you guys think of this one, i kind of just skewered what i planned and just went along with writing in this one.

* * *

"Class, please welcome our new student," the teacher announced to the class as he gestured to Suki to introduce herself.

"H-hello, I'm… I'm-" she stopped herself, taking a deep breath and gulping. She could hear small snickers, but she supposed she brought that upon herself for not being able to introduce herself properly. Thankfully, the teacher came into her defense by quieting them down.

The young girl's face reddened in embarrassment, trying to introduce herself again, "I'm- I'm Suki, I hope you all will take care of me!" She bowed deeply, then straightening up with a deep sigh. There were some muttering and whispers, but it eventually died down when Suki was assigned her seat and the day's instructions began.

It wasn't already anything she didn't know (but most likely had forgotten herself), and she was already warned by her home tutor the week before. Still, she gave some attention to remind herself of the details she had probably missed herself when she was learning the course, though it was increasingly getting hard once she realized how… monotone her new instructor was.

Suki's eyes roamed around the classroom, still only half-listening. Among her new peers was a dark-haired boy who was sleeping, next to him was another who was trying to "silently" eat in class. Behind them was a girl with dark hair and eyes, struggling to concentrate on the lecture because of the chewing of the boy in front of her. Another from a couple seats away was a horribly yellow-haired… boy (?) who was in rapt attention. Next to him was another blond who had a more pleasing-looking hair color, eyes so empty out of boredom that Suki was sure he wasn't even in the same reality as them anymore.

That was, until those empty eyes met hers.

She flinched and quickly looked away, her lips thinning and her breathing deepening. A burning sensation in her chest indicated panic, fearing for social exile for her rudeness for sure. Suki could feel her toes curling in embarrassment at being caught.

Staring was rude, that was what she was taught. Now she would have to apologize to remedy her impoliteness, it would set her with a bad impression, and even more so she was caught. A shinobi would have more stealth than that, her instructors would have punished her even more for that.

* * *

Lunch was the hardest part of the day, when everyone immediately scrambled to hang out with their friends, Suki was noticeably alone when the class had taken a break, with no one curious or friendly enough to approach her for now. The status quo of the class was already set, sudden outliers like her would have a hard time trying to find her individual place. It was more likely that overtime she would find some way to integrate herself with a friend or two, but it was also possible that Suki would stick as a loner, which was a thought that she'd rather not play with, as it was something that gave her anxiety just thinking about. It would be weird and she didn't want to be _that_ girl already, but she would give herself a few days to adjust.

There was also the fact that she hadn't thought of bothering people and personally introducing herself as a strategy. No, the elders always told her to let others extend their hand of friendship first, it would only be polite to do so, as to not bother other people. But it hasn't really occurred to her yet that making friends was a two-way street, if they weren't coming to her, she should be coming to them. At least she understood that friends weren't going to hand itself over to her on a silver platter. It was just a matter of gaining a backbone and getting over her shyness, as well as not letting the elders dictate her decisions.

After remembering the incident during class, Suki's eyes scanned for one of the blond to quickly apologize, finding him with the person he sat next to. Walking over towards them, Suki bowed immediately, "I— I am deeply s-sorry for staring earlier... I was simply very curious about… about my new surroundings, t– that is all," she softly stuttered, catching both students in surprise. Straightening up, both of her cheeks were tinted pink at being unable to stop her stuttering problem.

With Suki quickly turning around and walking away, both students looked at each other and shrugged, a little bit weirded out, but nonetheless mostly unaffected.

For the rest of lunch that day, Suki ate alone.

* * *

In Suki's opinion, making them spar right after lunch was a stupid idea. It made her stomach feel queasy and it was bad for digestion, but that was public academy for her, she supposed.

They were randomly paired off with a partner to duel, and Suki was partnered with the beautiful girl from earlier who had dark eyes and long dark hair.

Mikoto was her name.

She seemed kind with the way she smiled at Suki softly, putting out her pointer and middle finger out for Suki to link with. It was very misleading right after Suki joined fingers with hers, bowing, and starting their spar.

Mikoto was fierce, immediately lunging at her from the moment she straightened up from her bow, Suki barely dodging. The dark-haired girl was aggressive, not sparing Suki much time to dodge. But fortunately, the Senju was agile, though she knew she needed to take the offense soon.

After Mikoto landing a painful kick on her side, Suki landed on the ground with a couple of turns, flipping backwards to dodge a blow from her again. This left a window for Suki to quickly rush forward towards her, her fist moving backwards and giving her a good punch on the abdomen, sending the other girl flying.

Suki panted a little bit before rushing to where Mikoto was, ready to strike again. And when she tried to land a kick, Mikoto had turned, dodging and quickly making a counter, quickly getting up and snatching Suki's arm. With her arm, Mikoto maneuvered her over her back, flipping the Senju girl easily.

Grunting, it seemed like a win for the dark-haired girl, until that is Suki pulled at Mikoto's arm. It caught her off guard and a yelp came out of her lips as it was her turn to have been flipped over, with Suki on top, her knees trapping the other girl's legs, ready to strike with her first.

Both girls were breathing rapidly as the excited whispers of their other classmates were now noticeable for both of them. The match was over as soon as they both smiled at each other.

"Very good job, girls," their instructor praised with a clap of his hands. Suki lifted herself off Mikoto so she could stand up, both girls chuckling and putting forward their two fingers once more and bowing.

Once Mikoto straightened up, she looked over at Suki, "That was amazing, Suki-san, it's been a while since I was put in the ringer like that," she complimented.

Suki was taken aback at the compliment, "R-really? You're really amazing, Mikoto-san, you must...must absolutely have to teach me how you flipped me over... like that," Suki returned shyly, both of them walking back to join the crowd.

"Only if you tell me how you're that fast," Mikoto grinned at her.

The girl nodded vigorously, rather hopeful at their exchange. Maybe it wouldn't be that hard to make friends after all. Mikoto, from what she deduced at lunch, was a rather popular girl that held the affections of some of the males in her class, she could see why with that pretty smile.

The next pair to duel was the spiky-haired blonde and another boy wearing tinted shades, bugs crawling out of his skin. It sent shivers on Suki's spine, though she supposed he was an Aburame, if she remembered correctly from her clan studies.

Even more whispers were passed around, now that she was able to listen on the snippets she's heard, it would be a quick battle. The blonde, Minato, was apparently the top student of their class. Admittedly, Suki doubted it at first, until the spar began.

Moves were met fist by fist, both struggling to take over the offense. Minato was flexible and agile, but the Aburame definitely put up a good catch up and defense. It all ended with Minato giving the other boy a swift knee on the chin, throwing him back. When the other boy didn't get up after a few seconds, their instructor gave the blonde the win. Minato helped Shibi up, placing his two fingers after with his, bowing down and thanking him for the spar.

"Isn't he so good?" Mikoto turned to Suki, who merely nodded. Suki was impressed, the boy put up a pretty quick fight against the Aburame kid, and seeing them meet fist each other's blows was pretty exciting, it made her itch to spar against him herself.

The next few spars were uneventful, save for the Akimichi flattening some other kid with his size. They headed back inside once they were all done sparring for one last lecture block for the day, everyone quite tired from sparring and watching the others spar.

* * *

Suki walked to the gate to exit the academy, looking at either directions to see if the retainer had followed her orders. When she had first been escorted earlier that morning, she saw most of the children walking to the academy unsupervised by their parents, of course she became embarrassed, asking her retainer if they could simply drop or pick her up around the corner where no one would see. There was no problem in secretly guarding her (under the approval of the principal of the academy of course) when she was at the academy if anything were to happen to her, but the simple picking up and dropping off right in front of the other students was another thing, an embarrassing thing. It would have been fine if she were younger and it was the actual first day, but she was the new student. She didn't need to make a fool out of herself more than she knew she would already would.

"Suki-san, are you waiting for someone?" a voice came up behind her.

Flinching, Suki turned around to see Minato and the Akimichi boy with a bunch of other kids behind them with smiles on their faces. She shook her head at them, making the kids smile wider.

"Come with us to the playground," Chouza said while chewing on some chips. Minato and the others nodded, agreeing with him.

A little taken aback at the rather nice offer, she frowned and shook her head, "I have… I have something I need to d-do with my family," she said, thinking about the extra lessons awaiting for her at home, sighing inwardly at the thought.

The kids looked at each other with frowns forming at their faces, "is it really that important?" a girl asked while the others nodded with the same question.

"Yes," was Suki's firm reply.

"Well that's no fun, Suki-san. How about next time though, tomorrow?" Minato asked, tilting his head slightly at her.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she looked at her left to see a shadowy figure at the corner waiting for her. "I'll… I'll try to ask," she softly said.

"We'll hold you to it!" Chouza said enthusiastically. "Come on guys, let's go!" And with that, the kids ran off to the other direction while Suki headed for the other.

"Thank you for not picking me up in the front," Suki thanked the ANBU retainer who only gave a nod of acknowledgement as they started to make their way back to the Senju estate.

* * *

After some more lessons and training at the Senju residence, Suki had eaten dinner alone at her room before taking a bath, remembering that she needed to ask for permission with one of the elders to see if she could participate in social activities after school, that is, if any of the elders were around.

The Senju estate's only real inhabitants was the main branch of the clan, which were only Suki and her grandmother, with the only exception being that of the servants. The guards however rotated day and night, so even then, they weren't residents either. The elders lived in different estates since they were of a different branch, coming in to the main estate to do clan business with the head of the clan, which was currently her grandmother, and to deal with making sure Suki was taken care of properly.

Suki looked for a servant, asking if any of the elders were still around. Lucky for her, one was still around, though she would have to wait since they were currently talking to her grandmother in her personal office.

She decided to wait for them, walking the long distance away from her room from one side of the wing, to the other. She arrived just as the elder slid the door open, surprised to see the young girl waiting outside.

"Princess," the elder bowed slightly after closing the door. Suki returned the gesture before clearing her throat, looking down nervously after.

"Is it possible if I may… skip my private studies tomorrow? I've been asked by my classmates if I wanted to join them in the playground. I was hoping…" she drifted off, unable to look at the elder in the eye after making such a request.

The elder didn't even seem to ponder about the question before giving their answer, "Definitely not, your studies must take priority over leisures with the other children," the elder strictly said.

"But-"

"No. We will have to pay your retainer overtime, and you will have to catch up with your studies an extra day for a day of play, which will offer no benefit. Remember, we only put you in the Academy simply because Princess Tsunade insisted and your Lady Grandmother agreed, this does not necessarily mean that we fully agree to let you spend more time after with the other children to socialize," they firmly explained.

Suki sighed, not fighting it simply because she was conditioned fo the longest time to simply not go out of line. "O-of course, I apologize for asking," Suki replied, bowing and making her way back to her room.

* * *

The girl sat on the edge of the porch outside her room, sulking. She heard a knock and the sliding of her door, and when Suki turned around, she saw her grandmother holding a plate of Daifuku and making her way over outside to the porch. The young girl stood up and quickly greeted her with a bow, only met with a dull response of her grandmother sitting down next to the spot where she had been sulking. Sitting back down next to her Lady Grandmother, Suki became stiff again.

"If I may ask, why are you here, Lady Grandmother?" Suki asked with raised brows, proud of not stuttering. She had never personally come to her chambers before, and the gesture now just made her more surprised and uncomfortable. It made her feel like she did something wrong.

"It occured to me that it was your first day at the academy today," her grandmother said, placing the desert plate down at the gap next to them.

The princess nodded, "Yes, Lady Grandmother."

"And you had gotten an invitation to play?" Mito inquired.

"Oh… so you've heard," Suki frowned.

"The walls are unfortunately paper thin," Mito amusedly mentioned, grabbing a Daifuku off the plate and took a bite.

Suki mimicked her grandmother's actions, though not taking a bite out of hers yet, "I-I suppose they are… I shouldn't have asked when I knew there were more- more important things to do…"

"I give you permission."

"W-what?" Suki was taken aback, after being told otherwise by the elder, she didn't think her grandmother would allow her either.

Mito smiled down at her granddaughter, "If we're going to get that stutter out of you, we'll have to get you used to talking to other people," she explained.

Suki blushed, of course... She knew her stuttering was annoying, especially to other people, but if she barely spoke to anyone other than her tutors, it would be hard not to get shy around others. She was in desperate need of socializing, especially to kids her own age.

Taking a bite out of her snack, she nodded, "yes, Lady Grandmother," Suki replied, now a little excited at the prospect of playing with other children. She then wondered how the elders would react, though since it was her grandmother allowing her, there was nothing they could really do about it, her words were basically law.

Silence fell on them as they ate their desserts, watching the night scenery contently until Suki felt a hand running through her short hair.

"Your hair is just like Tobirama's, so is your eye color. However… the shape," Mito examined her stiff granddaughter, "They're shaped like mine," she said, moving her hand from Suki's hair to her now burning cheeks.

As far as Suki knew, her father was the second son of Hashirama and Mito, and her mother was Tobirama's only child. In order to keep the main branch pure and to cultivate powerful offspring, they were matched, though rather hesitantly due to their close relations. However, the older elders and Tobirama pushed for the arrangement, and so a match was made. Unfortunately, Suki was very far from the powerful offspring that was desired that just simply proved that even time-old traditions as such were for a good reason, near obsolete.

Her father died in a mission before Suki was born, and her mother died in childbirth. It was no secret that she was cursing her daughter until the moment she died, never naming her, and it was still a reoccuring gossip by the older maids. However, she had an older brother that came way before her, giving her the name Suki, which was a very unusual name to give, though he was known for his eccentries. He died as well, though she didn't know why, and nobody openly talked about him for some reason. Suki would ask, but she would get no response.

"Thank...you?" Suki furrowed her brows at her grandmother's observation.

"Hashirama would have enjoyed spoiling you, with cheeks like those and a stutter, he was rather weak when it came to children," she recalled, looking up in thought as she continued, "would have given his grandchildren the world if he could, but he would firmly teach you to take care of it."

Suki was no stranger to hearing about the great Hashirama Senju. If other children heard many stories about the Shodaime Hokage, she had it worse living in his estate, being his granddaughter. Sure it was kind of cool being the granddaughter of the God of Shinobi, but it was also rather unfortunate having to live up to that. Not to mention, never having met the man personally, she didn't have any emotional ties to him, he wasn't someone necessarily meaningful to her.

"I… I would be privileged to have met Lord H-Hashirama," Suki murmured shyly, finishing the last of the deserts. She didn't exactly know what to say, it indeed would be a privilege but wouldn't that just make her life that much harder? She'd be more of a mess than she was now with her grandmother.

The older woman gave her a light nod, "It's a shame he's only met Tsunade and your brother, though even just for a little bit…"

At the mention of her brother, Suki's brows were raised in interest. Mentions of her brother were rare, and she soaked up all the information she could get about him, which wasn't much. Curiously, she leaned in slightly more next to her grandmother.

Mito didn't miss this gesture of hers, even if her granddaughter tried to hide it. She was sure that the young girl didn't even notice she was doing it, body language was a clear indicator of her interest if her expression wasn't already enough.

"What do you want to know?" Mito asked her, amused at the surprised face that quickly took over her granddaughter's face, then the embarrassment that made her quickly sulk a bit.

"I'm s-sorry, was I-I that obvious?" Suki looked down, leaning away.

Perhaps she didn't manifest the power Hashirama had, but to Mito, it was clear that Suki was just as emotionally fragile as him.

Mito raised her hand up to indicate that it was fine, but the girl quickly flinched away at this gesture.

A deep frown came across Mito's face as she slowly put her hand back down. "Maybe it's best if we were to retire already…" she told her granddaughter as she shakily stood up. Age has truly gotten the best of her, but she still had a strong will to live… She just wasn't sure if that was enough to keep the fox at bay.

Bowing down, Suki quickly said her farewells, picking up the plate and watching her grandmother get back inside and exit out of the room. She let out a large sigh before entering her room as well, placing the plate at a nearby table.

At least tomorrow she could play with her new classmates.


End file.
